Malmö play at the Malmö Arena in the south of the city, next to the Hyllie Station. It is a large, modern arena that amongst many other events, hosted the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Capacity is about 13000, including a small area of terracing behind one goal (I was in this section).

Malmö and Rögle were the two SHL sides to not face playoffs, for either the championship or relegation, last season. Rögle are in a similar position this year but Malmö have started well and entered the game amongst the league leaders. Very fast and skilful game, just lacking goals until midway through the third period when Malmö finally took the lead. A second followed with a minute or so to go, with Rögle replying with about six seconds left.

Karlskrona 1-2 BrynäsSwedish Hockey League

The following day I went on the train for the three hour ride to Karlskrona. The town is the main base for the Swedish navy and the centre was an island, although a link to the mainland has been built up. The arena is a couple of miles the north and I reached it by bus. This is a much smaller arena than Malmö, holding about 3500, again with some terracing.

The home side finished well clear at the bottom of the table last season but are playing much better this season, even having led the table until a week or so ago. They thought they had taken an early lead in this game but this was disallowed after the referee had a look at the video. Things got worse for Karlskrona as Brynäs responded by scoring twice before the end of the first period. The home side did score in the second but generally struggled to turn possession into shots.

admission £16-50 inc internet booking fee, programme £2-50, attendance est 1300 4th v 2nd, with the visitors preparing for the Elite League next season. A close physical game with a dramatic finish. Pretty even in the first period with good netminding, only Long's rocket in off the bar separating the sides. Lightning equalised midway through the second and were starting to look the better team. Bison scored 1:30 into the third and defended grimly as the visitors put the pressure on. Two penalties made them less effective though. But in the last five mins Bison conceded two penalties so it became even more tense. 26.5 seconds from the end, Jarolin broke from his own blue line and finished coolly to clinch it for a shorthanded Bison, to great celebrations. The far side of Bison's rink is closed this season for repair but tickets were still available last Tue and the atmosphere is still pretty good.

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Clearly a lesser standard than the Swedish ice hockey I was earlier in the week, with far more errors in controlling the puck. The arena is of lower standard too, being basically a local ice rink with a some spectator areas. However it did provide good views - I spent most of the game watching from a walkway directly above the home bench.

Herlev, based in the western suburbs of Copenhagen, are having a miserable season having won only two of their 15 games coming into this match (both in overtime). Visitors Herning, who were runners up last season, are only a couple of places better off, but with a point total much closer to the leaders than to Herlev.

The first period was scoreless before Herlev took a surprising lead on a power play in the second. However Herning soon levelled, on a power play of their own, and by the end of the period were 3-1 up. Two more goals followed in the third period, which saw its closing minutes having a couple of fights.

Herlev and Gentofte are the smallest, and least inspiring, rinks in the Danish League. In general there isn't too much interest in ice hockey in the Copenhagen area. There are bigger rinks and higher crowds in Jutland, Vojens and Aalborg being the best ice arenas in Denmark in my view.

The Danish top level is probably on par with midtable/bottom of the Swedish Allsvenskan (level 2). The Swedish Eliteserie is amongst the strongest leagues in Europe.

Admission £9-00 inc programme attendance est 100 Heroic stuff from Devils against the unbeaten league leaders, coming back four times and only conceding the winner with 1:41 to go. Home fans not really expecting much tonight, a few injuries including captain A.Cole (get well soon, Alex) and an early goal conceded. But the rest of the period was suprisingly even, not just Devils defending bravely but also (unusually against Chelmsford) coming forward and having a few shots on goal themselves. Devils also managed to get through two 3 v 5 situations. In the second period a surprise equaliser by Rudkin was followed by another battle. Chieftains took the lead again but Rudkin sneaked another one in the corner. In the third the away team took the lead again as Devils were shorthanded after a silly Facey penalty, but Facey made up for it with a goal 20 secs later. When Bartlett put Chelmo ahead again we thought that was it, but Facey tied it up again at 4-4 with three mins to play. But the dream of at least Devils' first point against these opponents was quashed by Sylvester's late goal, and a late penalty for the Devils, who finished with only 11 outskaters after more injuries. Chelmo had a strong team out tonight but weren't at their best. However, I'm sure they'll win the league, probably with Streatham in second. They had a rare 0-0 result against London Raiders tonight (no OT in this league). Devils' M.Murray got a 15-month ban for his meltdown against Streatham (see report earlier) with his opponent, who allegedly provoked him so badly, not being cited, but he is not playing for Streatham any more.

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admission £12-55 with booking fee, programme downloadable via internet, attendance 1982 (website says it sold out) Strange to see this as 6th v 5th, but both with ambitions of top 4. Depends on which Flames fan you talk to - either a terribly weakened side, then suffering the loss of leading import Maslonka to a bad injury after 0:25, or a poor home performance gifting the points to a fairly average Bison. Probably a bit of both. Flames had a massive two shots in the first period, the score remaining blank only due to NM Skinns' heroics against his former club, being saved once by the post. Bison got the long overdue lead early in the second during a power play. Flames came back at this point, hit the post themselves, and equalised, again during a power play, a nice shot by Duggan on the half-turn. Hiadlovsky then had to make a superb save, but Bison reassumed control, and a good move two mins from the end of the period save Antonov give them the lead again. Bison extended their lead early in the third when Antonov was put clear and finished emphatically. The visitors brought on second-choice NM Weller-Evans for the third period - he had more shots to save than Hiadlovsky did in the first two, and played really well, especially during a 5 v 3 play six mins from the end. If you go to the Spectrum don't get tickets for the centre of Block D, otherwise you'll be sitting behind the drummer. Apart from him and some excited Bison fans opposite it was fairly quiet for a local derby on New Year's Day.

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Admission £9-00 inc programme attendance est 130 7th/8 v 4th/8 A close, fast, hard-fought game throughout with the visitors following their 5-2 home win yesterday with another one here. They only played with two and a half lines, but this is often the case and their players seem extremely fit and committed. Devils defended well again but lacked penetration coming forward. The first period was pretty even, no score, and the first penalty coming after 16 mins. The visitors were better in the second, Nahlik failing to beat Cole in a one-on-one, and they hit the post before taking the lead on 28 mins with a good break and finish by import Buda. Just before the goal Campbell almost turned a cross in to give Solent the lead. Devils' best spell was at the start of the third but Raiders held firm, even during a 5 v 3, and at the end of that penalty another good break and a good finish by Nahlik sealed the points. Pitchley could have got a third but Cole again came out tops on a one-on-one. Ref Evans gave his usual impression of someone who hates the Devils. One amusing incident near the end was when the puck went into the insulation in the roof, dislodging another puck from earlier at the same time, so visiting netminder King had two drop on his head.

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Manchester Phoenix have announced most of their remaining games this season are being shifted to Widnes from Fylde. Quite what team ices remains to be seen as they have cut all imports from an already light squad. One import has said he was notified of his release via Facebook and that he is owed a four figure sum financially. The planned new rink has been abandoned.

Look at the Hockey Forum for another view. They hold Morris responsible for an unrealistic business plan, inability to get local ice time because of his poor relationship with the rinks, and basically shifting the blame elsewhere.

I don't know the truth, but apparently they have been offered ice time by Silverblades for the rest of this season if the club is still going. Next season would be another matter.

The EPL is in a bit of a mess this season - champions-elect Telford are also in dire financial straits, Bracknell are in trouble too. The leagues could need some reorganisation next year.

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In sport, as in life, there's more than one side to every tale. I'm not interested enough in ice hockey to be bothered about the 'who did what to whom and when' minutiae. Amid the recriminations, you'll never get to the bottom of all that. No, it was the financial aspect that caught my eye, notably this guy claiming to have put £600,000 into the club over 14 years. To me, an indication of how small-time ice hockey is at this level. Any idea how much these semi-pro skaters get paid?

We're only about 20th in the world so ice hockey is pretty low key here. It's an expensive game (15-20 in a squad, equipment, etc.) Only a few companies run the ice rinks, it's hard to get sponsorship. I think Morris, and certainly the owner at Telford, Scholes, are blamed for trying to raise the stakes in the EPL, which has caused a lot of the financial problems for a few teams, because they don't get the crowds to match.

Pay - it's very variable. A few guesses:

ENL1S - Solent Devils players pay to play. Only one or two imports per team. Many local players. Imports at bigger teams in this league may get accommodation and beer money (occasionally a bit more).

EPL - imports may get 2-3K per month at a guess. About 3-5 imports per team. Some local players. I doubt whether the best GB players in this league get more than that. A lot will get half that. Guildford Flames are one of the richest, their total wage bill is rumoured to be about 8K per week.

Elite - not much idea but most of them are imports so will command a higher salary. I've heard 3-6K per month.

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Thanks for that, HL. I've watched a bit of ice hockey at various levels and wondered about the financing of the clubs visited. In this country, ice hockey seems to have a lot in common with (today's) speedway: a cinderella sport run on a shoestring by not terribly well off businessmen/women for the benefit of a small but enthusiastic group of followers.

Whilst not disagreeing with the idea a shake up may be necessary, and frankly welcome if done properly, Telford are now ok financially. Amazing what happens when you write off around £500k and take axe to the wage bill after reforming.

In their current spell in the EPL Telford have had everything from amateurs (first season youngsters) who got £25/week the next season through to players reputedly on north of £1k/week prior to the restructuring. They were British, the highest paid EPL players are often the best British players as the import limits mean there is high demand for them. Remember to factor in housing costs etc, it's not just wages.

Believe it or not but Telford had an amateur import a few years ago. A young American accountancy grad who fancied living in Europe prior to settling down. They put him up in a team house, he got a job to support himself.

The sport needs to control owner 'investment" in order to give non sugar daddy clubs a realistic chance. It's no secret one EPL team owes companies associated with their owner north of £2m. Telford's old owner started outspending them, once he left the consequences were probably inevitable - though to be fair to him he left a pot of cash for the season as sponsorship and it's reasonable to ask quite how Telford burnt through it so quickly.

More fall out for the EPL. Guildford have applied for Elite League membership leaving the EPL with possibly only 7 teams next season, and two of them are believed not to be in a great place financially.

The planned re-organization of the league at step 2 is getting rather urgent.

Yes, if Guildford join the Elite there may be 12 teams there, so the step(s) below will need to be reorganised.

Not sure how many teams left are actually financially stable enough for step 2 (the one below Elite) and successful step 3 teams like Chelmsford in the ENL1S are doing fine as they are and won't want to take the risk of playing in a bigger league. Nor would they enjoy having to play Telford! The standards between current step 2 and step 3 are massive, as last season's Crossover Cup showed.

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The level 2 clubs will have to accept a cut in imports. Manchester and Guildford,two of the biggest proponents of increasing import numbers, are probably leaving which will help that. There may be a reachable compromise at 3 imports to bring in a few level 3 teams. Hopefully with expenditure limits to stop the current level 2 teams spending too much for newcomers.

I'd expect further cuts at Telford at the end of the season. There weren't many jobs around when they re-engaged players, pre-season they'll have more options and the clubs moving up will probably shed more British players increasing the playing pool and possibly lowering wages for all but the top names.

And now the sport is ripping itself to bits. 8 clubs from the EPL are refusing to attend the restructuring meeting and confirm the EPL plays next season, bizarrely including Guildford who are known to want out.

It just gets better. It's now emerged that Bracknell, who voted to exclude both Telford and Manchester from the play offs, appear to have written off a six figure sum at around the same time as Manchester wrote debt off yet they are allowed in the play offs.

Also it looks suspiciously like Guildford are trying to preserve the EPL and really don't want to join the Elite League but applied incase the EPL goes belly up. Hopefully the Elite League don't work that out.....

Given the meeting also voted that the 8 teams would boycott an EIHA meeting about the future direction of step 2 and 3 hockey in the UK the suspicion must be that the EIHA are relishing an opportunity to put the boot in on the EPL owners.

Semi final leg 1 : Peterborough 4 Telford 2 Semi Final leg 2 : Telford 7 Peterborough 2 Into overtime because each team had won once! No goals. Into penalties: Peterborough win, even though they were outscored 9-6 over the two legs.

Bizarre sight of youth players coming on for the third period because it was clear that Telford had won their home leg and both teams were saving players for overtime.

I know it was because there was a heavy home win in one of the semi-finals last year, rendering the second leg a non-event, but THIS?

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